ACC Sports Sciences Feature: Weight Loss In Wrestling

Dec. 5, 2004

Bryan W. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP
Medical Consultant
Atlantic Coast Conference

Wrestling is a sport that dates back to the beginnings of sport. It is one of the few sports that give athletes of all sizes a venue to compete. It provides for individual as well as team competition. And if you have never been to a wrestling match, it is nothing like the version on television. For years wrestling was a male-only sport but now, women are participating in larger numbers each year.

Wrestlers pride themselves on mental and physical toughness. Participation has been shown to positively impact self-discipline and character. In spite of these attributes, the sport has been challenged on the issue of weight management. This has centered over weight cutting or rapid weight loss. For decades, the wrestling community has operated under the myth that to be a good wrestler, one must cut weight.

Weight cutting or making weight using rapid weight loss methods has been an accepted part of the sport of wrestling in spite of concerns from the American Medical Association as early as 1967 and the American College of Sports Medicine since 1976. Renewed scrutiny of weight loss practices in the sport of wrestling occurred in 1996 when the American College of Sports Medicine released an updated position stand on weight loss in wrestlers. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in late 1997 when three collegiate wrestlers died over a one month time frame while engaging in rapid weight loss behaviors to qualify for competition. A review of the three deaths by the Center for Disease Control concluded that the wrestlers were attempting to lose an average of 1-2 lbs/hr after having lost an average of 21 pounds over the previous 10-13 weeks. All three wrestlers had been wearing rubber suits and exercising in overheated conditions.

How common is weight cutting?

Studies in high school wrestlers prior to recent changes found that up to one third of wrestlers were cutting weight more than 10 times in a season at an average of 4-6 lbs. per time. At the 1991 NCAA wrestling tournament with a weigh-in 20 hours before competition, the average weight gain post weigh-in was 8 pounds or 5% of body weight.

Many negative physiological effects of weight cutting have been identified such as impaired thermoregulation, decreased work capacity, decreased renal blood flow, increased heart rate, reduced endurance capacity, altered hormonal status, and stunted growth and development. Weight cutting has been associated with cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary emboli, pancreatitis and decreased immune function. Altered psychological states and impaired academic performance have been reported.

Why would athletes do this?

One, there is a belief in the sport that weight cutting gives one a competitive advantage by having a relative increase in strength and power since the wrestler competes in a lower weight class. Whether one improves performance is debatable. Research has not shown this to be true. Two, this is a traditional rite of the sport with weight loss techniques passed down from generation to generation. Sort of a "no pain, no gain" philosophy. Three, if a better wrestler on the team is in the same weight class. Sometimes, the coach needs to shuffle the lineup to create better chances to win against a particular team.

Prior to these deaths, most attempts to influence change regarding weight loss behaviors had come in the form of recommendations from both sports medicine groups as well as the NCAA Committee of Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to discourage the use of techniques or devices that promote rapid weight loss. In 1991, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association adopted radical changes setting a minimum wrestling weight criteria. Following the deaths, the NCAA Wrestling Committee with guidance from the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee adopted significant rule changes to address weight loss behaviors in the sport of wrestling keeping in mind that weight is the competitive equity variable in the sport.

Three guiding principles were established to provide a foundation for the formulation of these rule changes. 1) Any and all weight control practice that could potentially risk the health of the participant should be eliminated from wrestling. To do this effectively, the incentives to attempt these practices must be minimized. 2) The focus in the sport should be on competition not weight control. 3) Recommendations should be practical, effective, and enforceable.

These new changes included:

1. Establish a permanent, healthy weight class early in the season for each wrestler.
Rationale: Prevent Excessive Fluctuation of Body Weight by Maintaining Proper Hydration. If an athlete cannot remain consistently within 1.5% of his wrestling weight, then he should probably be at a higher weight class. The optimal weight for performance may not be the minimal wrestling weight. Body fat should be no lower than 5% for collegiate male athletes, 7% for high school male athletes and 12% for female athletes.

2. Establish weigh-ins as close to the match as possible for each wrestler.
Rationale: The closer the weigh-in to the actual competition, the less incentive for rapid weight loss. Both the NCAA and the National Federation of State High Schools Associations (NFHS) have set a weigh-in time maximum of one hour prior to dual-meet competition, two hours for tournaments. A dual meet random draw provides an equal chance to compete within one hour of weigh-in, reducing the incentive for the higher weight.

3. Establish weigh-ins for each day of a multiple day tournament.
Rationale: This reduces the incentive to dehydrate to make weight.

4. Schedule daily weigh-ins before and after practice to monitor weight loss and dehydration.
Rationale: Weight loss during practice should be regained through adequate food and fluid intake. Engaging in physical activity in a dehydrated state increases the risk for heat injury, particularly in youth-age athletes whose thermoregulation ability is immature.

5. Eliminate the tools that are used to accomplish rapid dehydration.
Prohibit: Laxatives, emetics, diuretics, self-induced vomiting, excessive food and fluid restriction, and excessive spitting. Prohibit: Hot rooms, hot boxes, saunas, steam rooms, vapor-impermeable suits and artificial hydration between weigh-ins and competition. Rationale: Proper hydration is important for performance and health. Removing the tools of dehydration will reduce the incentive for wrestlers to use these widely discouraged techniques.

6. Encourage CPR and first aid training for all wrestling coaches.
Rationale: Required for all NCAA coaches. Someone at each practice or game should be qualified in CPR and first aid.

7. Educate coaches, wrestlers, and parents about the adverse consequences of prolonged fasting and dehydration on physical performance and physical health. Emphasize the need for proper and sufficient nutrition to optimize athletic performance.
Rationale: Wrestlers should be discouraged from consuming less than their minimal daily calorie needs (1700-2500 kcal/d)

Weight certification resulted in wrestlers staying at a natural weight throughout the season.

needed to support normal development for the wrestling athlete. Intense sports practices can burn more than 1000 calories. Semi starvation diets that produce a caloric deficit beyond 500 to 1000 calories/day usually promote loss of muscle and water rather than fat. During the athletic season, this method of weight loss can decrease performance and negatively impact health. A balanced diet with plenty of fluids can enhance performance.

Research following the implementation of these changes at the collegiate level has been promising. Weight certification resulted in wrestlers staying at a natural weight throughout the season. Moving the match weigh-in time to near the start of the match has reduced the weight regain by about 80% from the old rules in 1991. Athletes reported that the focus had returned to wrestling and less to weight.

The NFHS soon followed the example set by the NCAA and adopted a weight management program for high schools. For the 2005 season, all state high school associations governed by the NFHS will have to have a weight certification program. It is unfortunate that weigh-in policies have not been adopted for amateur international style wrestling which many youth participate in once their scholastic season is over. Recent published research has suggested that rapid weight loss behaviors continue at that level of competition.

Athletes deserve safe and scientifically sound training environments and techniques. Adoption of all of the above changes at the amateur level should enhance the safety of the sport while maintaining weight as the competitive equity variable.